Requirements for finger entrapment in European safety ... - ANEC

1 Introduction
This is the final report on the project ‘Requirements for tests of child finger entrapment in European safety
standards’ carried out by the IOE at the University of Nottingham for ANEC Child Safety WG R&T. It
incorporates the findings of the two interim reports issued in July and October 2011. The methods and
results of the project are presented under topic headings that address the research questions in the
project specification, rather than by the work packages undertaken, as some of these overlapped.
2 Review of Current Literature
A comprehensive search of the literature was carried out to: i) identify issues relating to finger entrapment
in child care articles and other items ii) review methodology related to research into finger entrapment iii)
injury data and iv) to identify stages of development in infants and children in order to understand better
potential capabilities (Work package 1).
2.1 Literature on finger entrapment
The current requirements (CEN 13387:2004 (E)) state that no rigid openings should be between 5mm
and 12mm unless the depth of the penetration is less than 10mm and openings in mesh and flexible
materials should be less than 7mm diameter. There is a paucity of literature in the area of finger
entrapment related to the child use and care articles, or in methodologies to test or assess entrapment
hazards.
2.2 Injury data
Data reported in the literature mostly refers to the causes of finger entrapment being jammed or crushed
in doors. Doraiswamy (1999) reported the following causes of finger injuries:
Table 1: Injury data from Doraiswamy (1999) for finger injuries
Cause Number (%)
Jammed/Crushed in opposing surfaces 136 48
Fall 63 22
Hit 31 11
Others 27 10
Cut 26 9
Total 283
2.3 Child development
The child development literature does not provide information on when an infant may use their fingers to
‘insert’ or ‘poke’ to lead to finger entrapment. However, information relating to general development and
reaching and grasping does allow us to understand the ages at which physical movement develops,
which may contribute to this risk.
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